Half the fun in Baker Mayfield's NFL debut is that it will come against Davis Webb.

Webb is the quarterback who tried to make Mayfield his towel boy when they were freshman teammates in college. They will take turns quarterbacking the Browns and Giants on Thursday night.

In the summer of 2013, Webb was the hot new scholarship quarterback at Texas Tech. Mayfield was an 18-year-old walk-on.

With incumbent Michael Brewer injured, Webb was being groomed to start as a true freshman. Mayfield recalled his first practice day alongside Webb in a documentary that premiered on FOX recently.

"It was a Wednesday," Mayfield said. "I got out there and it started to sprinkle, and Davis yells at me to go grab him some towels because his footballs were going to get rained on, and he wouldn't be able to grip them.

"And I kind of looked at him like, 'Are you kidding?'

"And he said, 'Go get me some towels.' I looked at him and said, 'I don't know who you're talking to, but you're not asking me to go get towels.'

"And then the strength coach walked out and he goes, 'You gonna let that walk-on talk to you like that?'

"I looked at both of them, and that's when I realized, 'I'm going to do everything I can to take his job.'"

In essence, Mayfield snapped a towel at Webb and left a mark. He beat out Webb for the starting job and, though losing time to injury, became Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year.

Mayfield was four inches shorter than the more highly recruited Webb, who had some big moments while Mayfield was hurt. Would Webb get preferential treatment? And why wasn't Tech putting Mayfield on scholarship?

Mayfield's answer was to transfer to Oklahoma.

Webb opened Tech's 2014 season as the starter but got hurt and was replaced by freshman Patrick Mahomes. After backing up Mahomes in 2015, Webb transferred to California, where he posted big numbers in 2016.

In the 2017 draft, Mahomes went to Kansas City at No. 10 overall. When the Browns opted to take a quarterback in Round 2, it was DeShone Kizer, not Webb, who was the next QB to go, in Round 3 to the Giants.

Webb became part of a gigantic in-house debate as a New York rookie. One faction wanted him to start the last three games of a lost season. Another wanted to stay with aging Eli Manning.

The Manning faction won. Manning finished out a 3-13 season and is back as the starter under new Head Coach Pat Shurmur.

Manning, 37, will play little if at all against the Browns. Webb and Mayfield are expected to be on the field against each other for quite a while as the second men in.

The Giants might have drafted Mayfield, but the Browns pounced at No. 1 overall. New York preferred running back Saquon Barkley to any of the other QBs with the No. 2 pick.

Mayfield actually made a pre-draft visit to the Giants.

"I can handle the spotlight," he said of possibly playing in New York. "I think I'd do just fine. Pressure is something I thrive on."

Facing Webb in his debut for Cleveland likely is something he smiles about.

Reach Steve at 330-580-8347 or

steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP

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